U.S. Prepares For Coronavirus Pandemic

“It is not a matter of if—it is a matter of when,” said Amesh Adalja, a senior scholar at the Johns Hopkins University Center for Health Security and a spokesman for the Infectious Diseases Society of America. “There is not a doubt this is going to end up in most countries eventually.”

The U.S., with 11 diagnosed cases so far, plans to quarantine at military bases potentially more than 1,000 Americans evacuated from China’s Hubei province. State health departments are activating emergency programs to isolate the potentially infected—a piecemeal approach that could range from specialized facilities to hotels. Some hospitals have tents in stock to use as emergency isolation wards.

“This is about mitigation at this point, and keeping the global spread as minimal as possible,” said Rebecca Katz, a professor and director of the Center for Global Health Science and Security at Georgetown University.

Source: [Bloomberg News]

Number of deaths in the US from coronavirus so far this year: 0

Number of deaths in the US from vehicle accidents so far this year: 3,700 (approximately)

Number of deaths from hippopotamus attacks worldwide in 2019: 500

Number of deaths in the US from being hit by lightning in 2019: 27 (down from a historical average of 51)

Number of deaths in the US from autoerotic asphyxiation in 2019: 150 (est.)

I suspect that the relatively large number of deaths in China has been due more to the country's primitive health care system than anything else.

So far at least, this is not something I choose to worry about. I couldn't find the numbers for deaths caused by Tucky Buckford when he's cleaning his gun and it goes off. Best not to live next door to him, though.

There are several cruise ships being halted from docking at various ports due to Coronavirus fears.

When's the last 12 month period where there wasn't a serious problem with people being stranded on a cruise ship, living out of a room the size of my walk-in closet, using a bathroom smaller than the ones on an airplane?

The moral of the story is :  cruises suck.  

The actual moral is: any situation where there are a lot of people crammed together in a small space sucks. There is no situation, event, etc. that can't be ruined by the presence of people. One example I can think of is Yosemite--I used to go there every spring with my family. Now, there are massive hordes there every day of the year, traffic jams, etc. etc. and you can't get a campsite unless you're extremely lucky.

To return to your point, half a dozen people on a boat is fun. Three dozen people is a party. Four thousand is an urban nightmare transplanted to the middle of the ocean. Who was it that said--"like being in prison, with a chance of drowning." I'll bet all those stranded ships have already run out of booze.

This reminds me of the old days when Don has us all dying of ebola. Actually, in one exrapolated chart, I think some us had to die twice. But then, of course, it was Obama's fault.  

Well, using the same logic that Trump does when taking credit for every good thing that happens during his presidency, every coronavirus death is Trump's fault.

And the next massive earthquake that kills a bunch of people will be a Trump earthquake.

Trumper logic: The economy is good. Trump is President. Therefore, Trump must have caused the good economy. Right, Trumpers? Makes sense, huh?

Gotta go, I think I just burned my grilled cheese sandwich. Goddamn Trump!

Poor old DonDiego hopes that the Corona Virus go-round this time ends as pleasantly for the US and the rest of the world [sans Africa] as the Ebola Virus back then.

There are some interesting features in the current CoronaVirus "outbreak" which differ significantly from the Ebola incident:

i. the site of the outbreak is a city of 11,000,000 citizens

ii. More than 34,500 people have been infected around the world already,  the vast majority inside China and two-thirds of them in Wuhan and surrounding Hubei province. There have been 724 deaths, all but two of them in mainland China.

iii. Radio Free Asia this week rebroadcast a local Wuhan television report from 2015 showing China’s most advanced virus research laboratory known the Wuhan Institute of Virology.  The laboratory is the only declared site in China authorized to work with deadly viruses.  Pr'bly a coincidence.

DonDiego recalls postings addressing the outbreak of ebola, . . . maybe 5 or 6 years ago.

Here's excerpts from an assesment  around then:

Ebola virus disease currently has no vaccines or medicines approved by national regulatory authorities for use in humans save for the purpose of compassionate care. 

To date, the virus has infected 6242 people and killed 2909 of them. These figures, which are far greater than those from all previous Ebola outbreaks combined, are known by WHO to vastly underestimate the true scale of the epidemic.

The Ebola epidemic ravaging parts of West Africa is the most severe acute public health emergency seen in modern times. Never before in recorded history has a biosafety level four pathogen infected so many people so quickly, over such a broad geographical area, for so long.

[boldface added - DD]

Even today, it seems sorta a pretty serious event.

For whatever propitious reasons the Ebola epidemic remained in Africa.  Cool beans ! ! !

In terms of mortality rates, Ebola and the coronavirus are not even remotely comparable.

Good News - our president has tweeted the virus will be eradicated by April "when the weather gets warmer".  

No scientific evidence was provided as to what that has to do with anything but no problemo.    

I feel safer already.